We chat with Aussie gaming superstars Loserfruit and Muselk about their stories, the future of content and how to start your own following.
If you’re an Aussie gamer, there’s a bloody good chance you’ve heard the names Loserfruit and Muselk before. Makes sense, considering the pair have become two of the biggest gaming stars in the country.
Loserfruit (aka Kathleen Belsten), for example has built herself up to become the second most-followed female streamer in the world, with more than 11 million followers across Twitch, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.
Muselk, meanwhile has a truly astounding audience of over 9.3 million subscribers on Youtube, while also juggling a talent and brand management company for gaming and technology influencers.
We’re flat out working what to have for breakfast every morning.
Together, both Loserfruit and Muselk attract some of the largest audiences not just in Australia, but worldwide, so we decided to dig into their journeys and uncover their stellar path to success.
For both gamers it all started with humble beginnings.
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“I got into playing games online with some friends and they recommended I start streaming!” recalls Loserfruit. “Streaming wasn’t super well known then and I think I was one of the few girls in Australia doing it at the time. Eventually I started uploading some of the funnier stream moments onto YouTube and it just grew from there.”
As of writing that audience has exploded to about 3.32M subscribers.
According to Muselk, meanwhile, his journey started from a young age. “However it was when I started playing TF2 near the end of year 12, that the gateway to content really opened. I initially started sharing content in the form of tutorials, and at the time didn’t have the courage to use my voice in them, however eventually had so many requests for live commentary that I caved in, and so my new career began!”
But while the path to success certainly takes a whole lot of hard work and determination, if you’ve been dreaming of streaming content yourself, you’re going to need a little bit of luck as well.
“I was early to the party and I had to switch and adapt to new games a few times,” Loserfruit admits. “But a lot was luck and timing. The space wasn’t as competitive as it is now so I think that helped but I just created what I enjoyed and tried to be myself and surprisingly people followed for that!”
For Muselk, while the YouTube star certainly sees his early entry into the platform as an advantage, much of his growth came from finding his own unique hook.
“I’ve always thought the real key was challenging myself in EVERY video to do something, anything, that would have people show the video to their friends saying “have you seen this”. At the time there was a tendency in a lot of gaming content to do simple live commentaries, so for me it was important to throw in unique challenges/ topics from crazy meme strategies to playing TF2 using my feet, if it was weird/dumb, thats what I would attempt.”
Both gamers helped launch YouTube Shorts in Australia, the video platform’s attempt at breaking into the short form content space. For Shorts, it’s all about trendy, viral videos that are 60 seconds or less and both Muselk and Loserfruit see the new approach as an increasingly important element.
“Short content is an interesting challenge, as it vastly redefines the format and style of what we’re able to deliver,” explains Muselk. “It does however offer a door into an entirely new creative format, and the potential to engage entirely new audiences and demographics. I see shorts being integral to the future of the platform and content of all creators.”
Loserfruit echoes those similar sentiments.
“I think short-from content is going to be more of a focus for a lot of creators. I was excited to hear about Shorts when it was announced and have really enjoyed posting some of my favourite stream clips to it whilst it was still in Beta.”
But let’s cut to brass tacks and get into the real meat and potatoes of what you really want to know. What advice would either personality have to give fellow gamers looking to jump into the content creation space for themselves?
For Muselk, he actually starts with an insightful word of warning.
“When entering YouTube, it can be quite tempting to look at whatever the biggest creators are doing and try to replicate it. In my opinion however that will only ever lead to creating a B grade version of the original. Find your own unique path, deliver content nobody else is making, and most importantly make the content because you love it, and dont let view count on any one video impact that.”
“Find the right combination of “just do it” and research/passion,” Loserfruit continues. “You have to love doing it AND love watching twitch/youtube/tik tok too, to really understand how these platforms work.”
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